^JLASKA: 
 
 A SKETCH 
 
 OF THE 
 
 COUNTRY AND . ITS PEOPLE. 
 
PUBLISHED BY 
 
 ■ DOMESTIU COMMITTEE 
 
 OP THE 
 
 Protestant Episcopal Church in the TJitited States of America. 
 
 1883. 
 
ALASKA: 
 
 THE COUNTRY AND ITS INHABITANTS. 
 
 I. 
 
 "When we suggest the propriety, and the almost necessity, of adding to the 
 Mission territory of the Church a new field as large as the whole area of the 
 thirteen original States, we shall suggest at the same time no doubt two yery 
 important questions— first. Where is this your proposed new field ? And second, 
 Has not the Church already in her charge more than she can well attend to ? 
 If we undertake to answer these questions, we shall take the second first, and 
 our answer is, that the more the Church can be brought to attempt in the way 
 of Mission work, provided it can be shown that there is a reasonable responsibility 
 resting upon her to do that work,' the more ready will she be found to respond. 
 The Church, with her weak Eastern Dioceses and her vast Western Jurisdic- 
 tions, certainly has a great deal before her ; but after all, what is that which is 
 before her compared to that which is behind her, Pentecost, the Mount of Mis- 
 sion, Calvary, and Gethsemane? She needs only to assume her full responsi- 
 bility as it develops, and put full faith in her children, and the work under- 
 taken will be done. 
 
 And the other question is to be answered by that mysterious word, Alaska, 
 otherwise known to the people of the United States as " Seward's Folly." On 
 the 38th day of May, 1867, a treaty was ratified by the United States Senate 
 which, for the consideration of the payment of 17,200,000, conveyed to the 
 United States full possession of 580,107 square miles of territory somewhere in 
 the unknown region of the great North-west. The map showed that there was 
 such a territory, and that it was called Alaska, but that was about all the 
 knowledge that was given or asked for by the people in general. They con- 
 sidered it a very foolish purchase, and never expected to hear any more of it, 
 or take any particular interest in its affairs. And to this day, to question any 
 one upon Alaska is to find that his acquaintance with the country is confined 
 almost exclusively to items of news that have come from Sitka, Port Wrangel, 
 or the more fertile portions of the Aleutian district. All the vast interior of the 
 country is as yet a sealed book to the American citizen. 
 
 The Country — Alaska includes all that territory lying between lat. 54° 40' 
 and 72°, a distance north and south of 1,400 miles ; and between long. 130" 
 and 190° (which, according to the treaty, was made the dividing line between 
 Asia and Alaska), distance east and west, of 2,200 miles. The coast line of 
 this country extends 25,000 miles, being two and one-half times more than the 
 Atlantic and Pacific coast line of the whole United States besides. Tlie western- 
 
4 
 
 ALA8KA. 
 
 most island of the Aleutian group is as far west of San Francisco as the coast 
 of Maine is east of that city, making San Francisco the middle city between 
 the Eastern and Western extremes of our territory. 
 
 Divisions — There are three districts within these limits, {a) The Sitkan, 
 or south-eastern Alaska ; (5) the Aleutian, embracing the Alaskan Peninsula, 
 and the islands west of long. 155° ; and (c) the Yukon, extending from the 
 Alaskan Mountains to the Arctic Ocean. Of the Yukon district very little com- 
 paratively is known, except through the reports of the United States Coast 
 Survey and the journals of Missionaries, from which we shall draw hereafter. 
 Its general conformation is moorland, very fertile where naturally drained, and 
 abounding in mountains and lakes. Its chief commercial value is in its furs. 
 
 The Aleutian district is mainly of volcanic formation and mountainous. 
 There is no timber at all except at the eastern end, but in some portions the 
 climate and soil are excellent for grazing, and one authority predicts that the 
 district will yet furnish California with its best dairy products. 
 
 The Sitkan district is almost entirely mountainous and covered with dense 
 forests, rich in natural soil, favorable in climate and seamed with valuable 
 mineral veins. 
 
 Mountains — The coast range of California and the Eocky Mountains unite 
 in Alaska to form the Alaska range, which extends down the Peninsula and 
 sinks into the Pacific, leaving only the highest peaks exposed. There are over 
 sixty volcanoes that have been active since the country was settled by Euro- 
 peans ; and in height they vary, from Mt. St. Elias, 19,500 feet, to Altu, the 
 westernmost of the group, 3, 084 feet. This is also the great glacier region, and 
 in one of the gulches of Mt. Fairweather there is a glacier which extends fifty 
 miles out into the sea and ends in a solid ice-wall 300 feet high and eight 
 miles broad. 
 
 Islands — The Southern coast is a vast archipelago. From Puget's Sound, 
 the terminus of the Northern Pacific E. E., one can sail for a thousand miles 
 through inside channels, the islands forming a complete breakwater, bays and 
 harbors on all sides, and yet the channel is too deep to anchor, and the moun- 
 tains rising up from the very water's edge to the height of 1,000 to 8,000 feet. 
 The natural features of the coast on this voyage are so wonderful that their 
 beauty has only to be known to make the trip one of the most attractive and 
 every way enjoyable summer voyages that could be devised. The most im- 
 portant groups of islands are the Alexander Archipelago, with l,iOO islands; 
 the Kadiak, 5,676 square miles; the Shumagin, 1,031 square miles; the 
 Aleutian, 6,391 square miles, and the Sea Islands of Pribylofli, 3,963 square 
 miles. 
 
 One of the largest rivers m the world is the Yukon, which is seventy miles 
 wide at its mouth, and for the first thousand miles from one to five miles 
 wide. It is navigable for 1,500 miles and more, and is over 2,000 miles long. 
 The people on its bank call themselves " Men of Yukon," as if that were 
 distinction enough. 
 
 The Kuskoquim, 600 miles long ; the Stickeen and Tanana, each 250, 
 and the Ohilcat, Copper, Fire, Mushergak, Nowikakat and Porcupine, each 
 150 and over, are the other principal streams. 
 
ALASKA. 
 
 5 
 
 Resources — Furs. The Alaskan Commercial Company in 1868 leased the 
 PribylofE Islands of the Govei-nment at an annual rental of $55,000 and a 
 royalty of 1262,500 a year on the 100,000 seal skins allowed by law to be 
 taken. The revenue from two islands alone from 1871-1880 was over 
 $2,500,000. Beside the seal-furs, the otter, mink, beaver and other skins give 
 an annual revenue of over $1,500,000. 
 
 Fish — Salmon, cod, herring, halibut, etc., in catching which in the season 
 from 5,000 to 10,000 Indians are actively employed. 
 
 Coal — In abundance, and of excellent quality and unlimited quantity, espe- 
 cially at Cook's Inlet, near St. Paul's Island. 
 
 Timber — Mr. Seward predicted that this region would become the ship- 
 yard for the American Continent, and shortly for the whole world. There 
 are thousands of square miles of densest forest of cedar, spruce, hemlock and 
 fir, covering the south-eastern section of Alaska. 
 
 Minerals — Gold, silver, iron, copper and marble are there in large deposits. 
 Petroleum is abundant on the Copper Eiver. Pire-clayy gypsum, sulphur 
 inexhaustible ; amethysts, gamates, agates, carnelians and fossil ivory. 
 
 Climate — Every diversity of climate is to be found here. In Central 
 Alaska, at Port Yukon, which is the trading station of the Hudson's Bay 
 Company, the thermometer often goes above 100° in summer and from 50°-70° 
 below zero in winter. The snowfall in this region averages eight feet, and often 
 reaches twelve feet. Among the islands and on the southern coast the climate 
 is very much like that of North-western Scotland. Por five years the great- 
 est oold reported was zero, and the greatest heat There were only fifty- 
 three entirely clear days in seven years. 
 
 At St. Paul's, Kadiak, the mean summer temperature was 54° and winter 
 29°. At Sitka, 64° 6' summer, and 32° 5' winter. In only four winters out 
 of forty-five at Sitka did the thermometer go below zero. Thus the winter 
 climate of Southern Alaska is the same with that of Kentucky and West Vir- 
 ginia, the mildness of course being due to the trend of the Japan Kuro-Siwo, 
 or Gulf Stream. 
 
 Population — ^The general divisions of the native population are four — (1) 
 Koloshians ; (2) Kenaians ; (3) Aleuts ; (4) Eskimo. Of the first there are 
 about 25,000 ; of the second 25,000 ; of the third 10,000, and of the fourth 
 20,000, or between 60,000 and 70,000 in all. The Eussian estimate at the time 
 of the treaty was 66,000. The Special Indian Commissioner to Alaska reported 
 of these Indians that if three-fourths of them were to be landed in New York 
 they would be classed with the most intelligent of the emigrants that arrived 
 there. St. Paul, on Kadiak Island, discovered in 1763, was for some time the 
 capital of Eussian America, but in 1832 Baron Wrangel transformed the seat 
 of government to Sitka. At these two places therefore the natives are to be 
 seen at their best estates. All on the southern coast speak the same language, 
 called the "Thlinklet." Their religion is a feeble polytheism, practically 
 resolving itself into demonolatry or Shamanism, offerings to evil spirits to 
 keep them from doing mischief to the offerer. It is the old Tartar worship 
 before Buddhism was introduced. The Shaman is the medicine man of the 
 
6 
 
 ALASKA. 
 
 family, and if the sous of Eechab were commended for their fidelity to Jona- 
 dab's command not to drink wine, the Thlinklets are no less faithful in their 
 obedience to the Shamans, who forbade them long ago to eat blubber, and to 
 this day they look upon it with the greatest abhorrence. Polygamy is practiced 
 among the rich, and their women are slayes to be bought with blankets. On 
 the upper Yukon the widow ascends the funeral pile and sits besides her dead 
 husband's body until she is almost suffocated, and then is obliged to collect 
 the clothes of her husband's body from the coals and wear them in a bag hung 
 about her neck for two years. The aged are stoned or speared and thrown to 
 the dogs. 
 
 The Kenaians inhabit the peninsula of Kenai, between Cook's Inlet and 
 Prince William's Sound. But very little is known of their tribal divisions and 
 habits, except that they are generally peaceful and well-disposed. The Aleuts 
 were the chief disciples of the Russian Mission, living on the islands and the 
 Alaskan Peninsula, and the most advanced of all toward civilization. The 
 remainder of the population along Bohring's Straits, the Arctic coast, and on 
 the Yukon river and its tributaries are Eskimos — like the Eskimo in other 
 parts of the world, low in the scale of humanity, but peaceable and anxious to 
 learn from the Missionaries. 
 
 Towns — Port Wrangel, a village of one hundred houses, with about one hun- 
 dred whites and five hundred Indians, though this is much increased in winter 
 by the incoming of the minors and Indians from the fisheries to the number of 
 3,000 or 4,000. Uiialashka, the most important trading-post of " The Commer- 
 cial Co." St. Paul, Kadiak, which has schools and a hospital, and SitTca, or Kew 
 Archangel, the headquarters of the present, as it was of the former, government, 
 has about 1,500 inhabitants. It is a port of entry, the whole territory having 
 been constituted a revenue district, which is literally all that has been done by 
 the Government toward recognizing the possibilities of its new possession. No 
 provision has ever been made to establish a territorial rule, and except for the 
 fact of the cession and military possession following up the treaty in October, 
 1867, Alaska, so far as the interest taken in its affairs goes, might as well be 
 ceded to the Eskimos and be done with it. But when we turn to the religious 
 side of the question, we shall see, as it is hoped we shall prove in another article, 
 that a great deal of interest, and a vast amount of severe faithful labor, has 
 been expended, which is bringing forth good fruit, and has no limit to its capa- 
 city for increased fruitage ; and that if China and Japan are worth a Bishop 
 and a band of Missionaries to express and extend the fostering zeal and care of 
 the Church, it is surely time that the first Bishop of Alaska from the Church in 
 these United States was sent out, with a score of faithful Priests and Deacons 
 to second him, to care for the souls of those who have been already born again 
 into Christ, and to preach the Gospel of the Eesurrection among the prairies, 
 mountains, islands and frozen ice-fields of Alaska. 
 
II. 
 
 ITS MISSIONS OP THE PAST — RUSSIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 It is to be supposed that, with our own experience as a Church before us, 
 we know what to expect in the way of delays and disappointments between the 
 first sowing of the seed in a foreign and hostile soil and any satisfactory 
 harvesting of the fruits. It has taken half a century in China and Japan 
 already to establish our Church as in any sense a satisfactory Mission, and even 
 now there are not wanting those who say that the whole work is a failure, 
 and the sooner we can gracefully back out of it the better it will be for the 
 credit of the Church. Nor will any one familiar with the spiritual obstacles 
 that Missionaries encounter expect that characters that shall be Christian 
 from highest principle and through and through will be formed in the first, or 
 even the second, generation of converts, as a rule, though every Mission field 
 furnishes shining exceptions to this rule. 
 
 "We shall not be disheartened, then, when we come to look into the history 
 of Missions in Alaska, if the present state of society there is found to bo slightly 
 SAVAGE still ; nor give up hope of doing good, because we find unfavorable 
 criticisms upon the work of other religious bodies already done, and sneers at 
 the results claimed as conversions, in the writings of those who have, from an 
 outside point, surveyed the field. But, that no charge of bias or prejudice may 
 hold, we shall give in brief, from an undoubted authority, a short sketch of 
 native character at this day and a review of the results of Mission work. It 
 will be understood that the people spoken of are the Indians or Aleuts, and 
 the Missionary agency is the Russo-Greek Church. 
 
 Dall, in his work, "Alaska and Its Kesources," speaking of the Indian 
 character, says : " They are hospitable, good-humored, but not always trust- 
 worthy. They will steal, and have sometimes attacked small vessels in the 
 straits. . . . They sometimes have as many as five wives, though one or 
 two is the usual number. . . . Drunkenness is a common vice among them. 
 They have an uncontrollable passion for alcohol, which is plentifully supplied 
 to them by the whalers and traders." (How our own Indian Missionary will 
 appreciate this feature of the difficulty of Mission work there !) " They hate 
 the Russians, and will not trade with them. . . . Their customs in regard 
 to the treatment of the old and infirm are, from a civilized point of view, 
 brutal and inhuman. . . . "When an old person was sick for more than 
 seven days the others put a rope around his body, and dragged him by it 
 around the house over the stones. If this did not kill or cure, the sick 
 person was taken to the place of the dead. . . . Here the individual 
 was stoned or speared, and the body left for the dogs to devour, the 
 latter being themselves eaten by the natives." Of the Aleuts proper he 
 says : " Since the time of their first intercourse with the Russians, their char- 
 
 7 
 
8 
 
 ALASKA. 
 
 acter, habits, mode of life, and even their very name, have been totally changed. 
 Originally they were active, sprightly, and fond of dances and festivals. Their 
 mode of worship partook more of the character of a religion than that of any 
 of the tribes, which still remain unchanged. Ground into the very dust by the 
 oppression of ruthless invaders, their religious rites, gay festivals and determined 
 character have all passed away. A shade of melancholy is now one of their 
 national characteristics. All speak some Russian, and many of them can con- 
 verse fluently in that language. The Aleuts are light, and nearly the same 
 color as the Innuits of the Northwest. Their features, perhaps, from the great 
 admixture of Russian blood, ai-e more intelligent and pleasing. They are all 
 nominally Greek Catholics, but there is Very little knowledge of the principles 
 of true Christianity amongst them. While further advanced than any other 
 native American tribe, they are far from civilized, except in dress, and require 
 careful guardianship and improved methods of education to preserve them 
 from the rapacity of the traders. The reality of their devotion to a religion 
 which they do not comprehend may well be doubted." He then quotes Venia- 
 minoff's description of the native character, with the comment that it is marked 
 by partiality confessed, and is mainly due to his goodness of heart and love for 
 the people. ... In another place, speaking of Mission work not Russian, 
 he says: " In the evening, the Indians, old and young, gathered in the fort 
 yard and sang several hymns with excellent effect. Altogether it was a scene 
 which would have delighted the hearts of many very good people who know 
 nothing of Indian character, and as such will doubtless figure in some Mission- 
 ary report. To any one who at all understood the situation, however, the 
 absurdity of the proceeding was so palpable that it appeared almost like blas- 
 phemy. Old Sakhuiti, who has at least eighteen wives, whose hands are bloody 
 with repeated and most atrocious murders, who knows nothing of what we 
 understand by right and wrong, by a future state of rewards and punishments, 
 or by a Supreme Being — this old heathen was singing as sweetly as his voice 
 would allow, and with quite as much comprehension of the hymn as the dogs 
 in the yard. Indians are fond of singing ; they are also fond of tobacco ; and 
 for a pipeful apiece you may baptize a whole tribe of them. Why will intelli- 
 gent men still go on, talking three or four times a year to Indians on doctrinal 
 subjects by means of a Jargon which cannot express an abstract idea, and the 
 use of which only throws ridicule on sacred things, and still call such work 
 spreading the truths of Christianity ? When the Missionary will leave the 
 trading-posts, strike out into the wilderness, live with the Indians, teach 
 them cleanliness first, morality next, and by slow and simple teaching lead 
 their thoughts above the hunt or the camp — then, and not until then, will they 
 be competent to comprehend tlie simplest principles of right and wrong." 
 (The paragraph before this last is quoted for the benefit of the Professors in 
 our future Alaska Divinity School, and the last for the guidance of our 
 pioneer Alaskan Bishop and his Missioners.) 
 
 Having freed ourselves from the danger of a possible charge of prejudice 
 and ignorance by quoting so freely from outside authority, we are at liberty to 
 take up historically the Mission of the Russian Church in Alaska. 
 
ALASKA. 
 
 The history of the early dealings of the Rassian expeditions with the 
 natives is one of continued outrages and retaliations. Almost every record of 
 voyages for discovery or trading from 1648-1800 tells of atrocities committed 
 by the sailors and of wholesale massacres by the natives. The sole purposes 
 of these expeditions was gain, and no attempt was made even to conciliate, 
 much less to evangelize, the Indians. It was not until 1793 that a ukase was 
 issued by the Empress of Russia authorizing the introduction of Missionaries 
 into the American colonies, but unfortunately the same ukase ordered the 
 shipment thither of convicts from Russia, and was obeyed in the proportion 
 of a hundred convicts to one Missionary. In 1794 (May) Shilikoff brought 
 over 190 emigrant convicts, two overseers and eleven monks, and loasaph, \ 
 Elder of the Augustine Eriars, was invited to settle in the colony. All the 
 monks were obliged to support themselves by constant work, as no provision 
 was made for them by the Government, and loasaph complained bitterly of 
 the treatment they received from the Shilikoff Trading Company's officials. 
 At the same time, in 1795, one year after his landing, he reported the conversion 
 of 1,200 natives, thus quite justifying the hard criticisms quoted above. The 
 census of this colony of Kadiak in the same year gave a population of 3,600 
 natives. In 1796 Father loasaph was made Bishop by Imperial ukase, and 
 returned to Irkdtsk to receive his consecration. Father luvenati was mur- 
 dered by the natives for attempting to put down polygamy. The first Russo- 
 Greek Church was built at Kadidk during this year. In 1799 Bishop loasaph, 
 with a company of Clergy, set sail for his new Diocese in the ship "Eenie," 
 which was lost at sea with all on board, and from this time to 1810 only one 
 monk was left in the colonies. On the 10th of June, 1810, Captain Golofnin 
 brought one Priest to Sitka in his sloop of war Diana, and in 1816 Father 
 S51okoff arrived from Moscow, and took charge of all the Mission work in the 
 colonies. There were at the death of Governor Baranoff in 1819 five colonies 
 of the Company in the Aleutian Isles, four on Cook's Inlet, two on Chujach 
 Gulf, and one on Baranoff Island, in Sitka Bay, with three Priests in charge, 
 three chapels and several schools, where, however, nothing was taught except 
 reading and writing in the ecclesiastical characters. Father Mordoffski 
 reached Kadiak in 1823, and in 1824 the real history of the Mission begins 
 with the arrival of the noble and devoted Innocentius VeniaminofE, the Rus- 
 sian Selwyn, at Unalashka, and the commencement of his life-long labors 
 among the Aleuts. He was made Bishop and transferred to Sitka in 1834, 
 and the record of his life gives all that there is to be said about the progress of 
 religious work among the natives, so far as the Russian Church is concerned, 
 up to the time of the transfer of the Territory to the United States. Mr. 
 Ball's estimate of his labors is well worth quoting here to counterbalance some 
 other quotations that have been made from his book. He says, " Whatever of 
 good is ingrained in their [the natives] characters may be in great part traced 
 to the persevering efforts of one man. This person was the Rev. Father Inno- 
 centius Veniamlnoff, of the Irkutsk Seminary, since Bishop of Kamchatka. 
 He alone of the Greek Missionaries to Alaska has left behind him an undying 
 record of devotion, self-sacrifice and love, both to God and man, combined 
 with the true Missionary fire." 
 
10 
 
 ALASKA. 
 
 John VeniaminpfE was born September 1st, 1797, graduated from the Semi- 
 nary at IrkiUsk in 1817, and was ordained in May of that year. He was 
 adyanced to the priesthood in 1821, made Bishop of Kamchatka in 1840, and 
 took the title of Innocent. In 1850 his see was made Archi-Episcopal, and in 
 1868 he was recalled to Russia and made successor of Philaret as Metropolitan 
 of Moscow. In 1823 he offered himself as a Missionary, and was sent by his 
 Bishop to Unalashka. The following extracts from his own published account 
 of his Mission {" The Founding of the Orthodox Church in Russian Amer- 
 ica," St. Petersburg, 1840) will give the best idea of what he had to do, and 
 how well he did it : 
 
 "Although the Aleuts willingly embraced the Christian religion, and 
 prayed to God as they were taught, it must be confessed that, until a Priest 
 was settled amongst them, they worshipped one who was almost an unknown 
 God. For Father Macarius, from the shortncFS of time that he was with 
 them, and from the lack of competent interjjreters, was able to give them but 
 very general ideas about religion, such as of God's omnipotence. His good- 
 ness, etc. Notwithstanding all of which the Aleutines remained Christians, 
 and after baptism completely renounced Shamanism, and not only destroyed 
 all the masks which they used in their heathen worship, but also allowed the 
 songs which might in any way remind them of their heathen worship to fall 
 into disuse, so that when, on my arrival amongst them, I through cviriosity 
 made inquiry after these songs, I could not hear of one. But of all good quali- 
 ties of the Aleutines, nothing so pleased and delighted my heart as their 
 desire, or, to speak more justly, thirst, for the Word of God, so that sooner 
 would an indefatigable Missionary tire of preacliing than they of hearing the 
 Word." But Veniaminoff, true Missionary that he was, was not content with 
 his quiet, peaceful labors among the Aleuts. There was a fierce tribe that 
 hunted the Russians like wild beasts in the neighborhood of Sitka, and to 
 them he determined to carry the Gospel. He began to get ready for his Mis- 
 sion to these Koloshes in 1834, but was detained a year, and at last, ashamed of 
 himself for his cowardice, he resolved that immediately upon the close of the 
 Christmas holidays he would take his life in his hand and go. "Four days 
 before I came to the Koloshes," he says, "the small-pox broke out among 
 them. Had I begun my instruction before the appearance of the small-pox 
 they would certainly have blamed me for all the evil which came upon them, 
 as if I were a Russian Shaman, or sorcerer, who sent such a plague amongst 
 them. But Glory be to God, who orders all things for good." (Think of 
 thanking God for opening such a door of entrance, a door from whose open- 
 ing in such a place anyone but a man of iron nerves and complete self-sur- 
 render would have fled away and thanked God for his escape!) " The Ko- 
 loshes were not what they were two years previously " (when he meant to come 
 among them). " Few were baptized then, for, while I proclaimed the truth 
 to them, I never urged upon them, or wished to urge upon them, the immedi- 
 ate reception of Holy Baptism, but, seeking to convince their Judgment, I 
 awaited a request from them. Those who expressed a desire to be baptized I 
 received with full satisfaction." After sixteen years of Missionary toil in such 
 
ALASKA. 
 
 11 
 
 a field Veniamfnoff was sent to St. Petersburg to plead for help for the Mis- 
 sion. The Ozar proposed to the Synod to send him back as a Bishop, but 
 that body objected, because, though he was an excellent man, he had "no Ca- 
 thedral, no body of Clergy, and no Episcopal residence." "The more, then, 
 like an Apostle," said the Czar, and he was consecrated. No sooner was 
 he consecrated than he was impatient to get back to his see, and on April 
 30th, 1843, he writes: "At last, thank the Lokd God, in America! 
 Our doings since we came to Sitka (September 26th) have not yet been 
 very important. A Mission was sent to Ifoushtaii, which will reach its desti- 
 nation not sooner than the middle of next June. December 17th a sort of 
 Theological School was opened, containing now 23 persons, Creoles and natives. 
 The theological student I. T. was sent to Kadiak to learn the language, and 
 in four months has had wonderful success. The monk M. has been preaching 
 
 to the Koloshes, and has about 80 candidates for Holy Baptism, and asks 
 
 it for them ; but I do not care to be over hasty with them. The more and the 
 better they are taught, the more can they be depended upon. I went this 
 spring to Kadiak to examine into the affairs of the church there, and was 
 comforted beyond expectation. The church is full every holy day, and Lent 
 was kept by more than four hundred of them, some coming from distant 
 places." 
 
 April 5, 1844. — " The children here [at Sitka] between the ages of one and 
 eighteen are very numerous. In the Theological School, in the Company's 
 School, and in two Girls' Schools, there are about 140, and yet I gathered 
 about 150 others." He reports 400 children under instruction and 35 adults 
 baptized at their own request. 1845. — The Kwichpak Church numbered 270 
 natives and 30 foreigners. Priests visited the Kenai and Koetchan tribes, 
 staying with them some months and baptizing several converts. And so the 
 good Bishop went on from year to year, as the Kussian MouraviefE says, 
 " Sailing over the ocean, or driving in reindeer sledges over his vast, but thinly 
 settled Diocese, thousands of miles in extent, everywhere baptizing the natives, 
 for whom he has introduced the use of letters and translated the Gospel into 
 the tongue of the Aleutines." 
 
 " The good Bishop has little to say of himself. We are told he became 
 master of six dialects, spoken in the field committed to his charge. He him- 
 self translated, or assisted others in translating, large parts of God's Word and 
 the liturgy of his Church for the use of the natives. For forty-five years, ten 
 of them as Bishop of Kamchatka, eighteen more as its Archbishop, he labored 
 on, in season and out of season." (Hale's Innocent of Moscow.) And when, 
 in 1867, Philaret died and Innocent was chosen Patriarch of Moscow, one of 
 the first works he undertook was the organization of the Orthodox Missionary 
 Society, which was the cause of as much good at home in awakening the spirit 
 of Missions in the Church as it was abroad in supporting the work in distant 
 fields. This Society in 1877 raised and expended 141,698.65f roubles in Mis- 
 sionary work. 
 
 The following statistics are taken from a report in the Mission Journal of 
 Irkutsk: "There are in the Diocese of the Aleutian Islands and Alaska, 
 
13 
 
 ALASKA. 
 
 including about 200 Solaves and Greeks at San Francisco, 11,572 members of 
 the Eastern Church. The church buildings are 9— viz., at San Francisco, at 
 Sitka (where there are about 300 Orthodox), at Kadiak, at Kenai, at Biel- 
 kofEsky, at Ounalashka, at Nonschatchak, on the Island of St. Paul, and at the 
 Michaeloffsky Redoubt at Kwichpak. There are two vacancies among the 
 Clergy at Sitka and at the Kenai Mission." 
 
 Bishop lohn succeeded Innocent, but soon returned to Russia. Bishop 
 Nestor, a man of ability, went out in 1879. He died in 1880, and has had no 
 successor. The most influential Russians left the country when the Territory 
 was ceded, and interest in the Missions has largely been withdrawn, so that in 
 the last two reports of the Orthodox Missionary Society no mention whatever 
 is made of Alaskan Missions. Without doubt, while, according to the terms of 
 sale, all the Church property is reserved for the exclusive use of the Orthodox 
 congregations, time will work it that the field will gradually be abandoned by 
 the Russian Church, and will, if we do not claim and cultivate it, eventually 
 fall into the hands of the sects. 
 
 And this brings us to speak of another work going on there — viz., the 
 Mission of the Presbyterians. On the 10th of August, 1877, the Rev. Sheldon 
 Jackson and Mrs. McParland reached Fort Wrangel as the first Missionaries 
 of the Presbyterian body to Alaska. Mr. Jackson reports that one of the first 
 sights he saw was an Indian ringing a bell to call the people to school. The 
 Indian was Olah, from Fort Simpson, and about 20 pupils attended. The 
 Lord's Prayer was recited in Chinook jargon (a mixture of French-Canadian, 
 English, and Indian words), and the long metre doxology sung at closing. The 
 book-stock inventoried four Bibles, four hyian-books (Moody and Sankey), three 
 primers, thirteen first readers, and one wall chart. Twelve thousand dollars were 
 raised as a special fund by Mr. Jackson's efforts at home, and two other Mis- 
 sionaries were sent out in 1878. In 1880 one Missionary and one teacher went 
 to Alaska. In 1879 the Mission buildings were erected, and the First Presby- 
 terian Church of Fort "Wrangel organized. The Mission includes a church 
 building, a Girls' Industrial Home and school-houses, with stations among the 
 Chilcats, Hydahs and Hoonyahs, neighboring tribes. There are at present 
 three Ministers and five male and female teachers at the different stations. 
 
 To provide for the Swedes and Germans in the employ of the Russian 
 American Fur Company, a Lutheran Minister was sent to Sitka in 1845 and 
 remained until 1852. He was succeeded by the Rev. Mr. Mntec, preaching in 
 Swedish and German, who remained until the transfer in 1867, when, his sup- 
 port being withdrawn by the Russian Government, he returned to Europe. 
 
 A Roman Catholic Bishop, with one Priest, also came to Fort Wrangel in 
 1879 to establish a Mission, but it is believed that the work has now been 
 stopped and the Priest withdrawn. 
 
 It must be remembered that all that has been cited of the Missions so far 
 has only to do with the Indians in the neighborhood of Sitka and Fort 
 Wrangel, along the southern coast, and on the Lower Yukon. The next paper 
 will tell something of the work of the Church of England on the Upper Yukon 
 and among the Eskimo. But, so far, the great continent, with its vast and 
 
ALASKA. 
 
 13 
 
 almost unexplored interior, lias only been trimmed around the edges. Eull 
 40,000 of the possible 60,000 natives, are yet without Christianity, and one 
 might as well establish a Mission in Cuba to evangelize Spain, or in the Jerseys 
 to reach the Mahometans, as to sit down in a Mission at Sitka and hope to 
 reach the scattered tribes of Alaska. If we should send Missionaries to that 
 neighborhood it would only be to make of it a Fort Wrangel indeed, but the 
 whole country is open to us, and on the Grand Yukon and its tributaries and 
 among the Eskimos of the northern coast there is work enough, yet untouched, 
 for all the men the Church could send. 
 
III. 
 
 THE MISSION'S OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 Alaska has been invaded from another quarter in the interests of the 
 Cross. The Church of England, since the revival of the Missionary spirit in 
 the early part of this century, has never been content to sit down in any 
 locality and confine herself to work there, simply because her territorial limits 
 were near at hand. Her Missionaries have the spirit of Disraeli, and are ever 
 looking around for new worlds on a small scale to conquer. One would think 
 that the British possessions in North America, which comprise an area of 
 4,000,000 square miles, a territory larger than the whole of Europe, might 
 have afforded room for the tireless labors of these zealous men, and that they 
 might have thought the hardships and discomforts of the Ked River or the 
 distant Mackenzie enough, without taking little trips of a thousand and fifteen 
 hundred miles to the Yukon. Two hundred and fifty thousand Indians are 
 under the charge of the small band of Bishops and Clergy that is scattered 
 over this vast region, but the spirit of the Master was in His disciples, 
 and they were ever ready to leave the ninety and nine sheep in the wilderness 
 and go after that one which was lost until they found it. 
 
 The Church Missionary Society of the Church of England has made Mis- 
 sions to the Indians its peculiar care, and has labored almost alone among 
 them. More than sixty years have passed away since its first Missionaries pene- 
 trated into tlie then remote regions of the Eed River. 
 
 In 1820 the Rev. John West was sent as Chaplain of the Hudson's Bay 
 Company with instructions to live at Red River, and, in addition to his other 
 duties, to do all he could to better the temporal and spiritual condition of the 
 Indians in that region. This he did so faithfully that help was soon needed to 
 prosecute the work, and in 1825 the Rev. W. Cochran was appointed to min- 
 ister entirely to the Indians. It is to his exertions mainly that we must 
 attribute much of the success which has from the first attended the Missions 
 in that country. Another item, however, that entered largely into that suc- 
 cess was the fact that the treatment of the Indians in the territories belong- 
 ing to the British Government has been of a different order from that which 
 prevailed in Alaska under the Russians, and one does not have to interlard the 
 history of the country since 1820 with accounts of forts and trading posts 
 burned and garrisons massacred. The Indians did burn forts once in a while, 
 but they only did it for fun, and because the Russian traders had put them up 
 to it. Another Sclwyn was this William Cochran, who never left his chosen 
 field until he died there, after forty years of faithful labor of the severest sort, 
 leaving a memory dear to all. How easy it is to write that " forty years," but 
 who except him who endured it, and the Lord who sent him and took him 
 away in His own good time, can sum up the labors, privations, dangers and 
 
 14 
 
ALASKA. 
 
 15 
 
 the terrible loneliness of those years in the far-off wilderness, and measure the 
 patient endurance that carried him evea to the end ? , • 
 
 Prom Eed Eiver as a centre, stations were gradually "planted east, west 
 and north as the way opened, the men to occupy them being always found 
 ready. In this way nearly the whole of this great territory stretching north- 
 ward to the Arctic Sea, eastward to the borders of Labrador, and westward to 
 the Rocky Mountains was visited and occupied. But those " Rockies " were 
 not high enough to form a barrier against these pioneers of the Cross. Over 
 them they went to preach the Gospel in the " regions beyond," as we shall see 
 further on. 
 
 Going northward from the head of Lake Winnepeg, the English River is 
 reached, which, rising near the Rocky Mountains, falls at length into Hudson's 
 Bay. Stanley, a Mission on this river, was commenced in 1845, and in a short 
 time the Orees, natives of that region, all renounced heathenism and were 
 received into the Church. Leaving Stanley and going to the head of English 
 River we reach Portage La Loohe, which is the water-shed of this portion of 
 Worth America. Prom this point on, the rivers all flow northward to the 
 Arctic Ocean. The traveller having crossed the Portage, finds himself in the 
 basin of the great Mackenzie River, on which, in lat. 6° 51' 35" north and in 
 121° 51' 15" west long., stands Port Simpson. It is distant from the Red 
 Eiver about 2,500 miles. The Indians who live in this district are the Tinne 
 or Chipewyans, a harmless and inoffensive race, and well disposed towards 
 Christianity. There are several tribes of them, as the Hare, Dog-ribs, Yellow- 
 knives, etc. 
 
 A Mission was begun among these tribes in 1858, and in 1859 the Rev. W. 
 W. Kirkby made Port Simpson the headquarters of the Mission and his per- 
 manent home, so far as it is home where the heart is, for the Missionary him- 
 self must have been seldom there. Visiting the Indians of his more immedi- 
 ate charge in their hunting grounds, and making long journeys to preach the 
 Gospel to the tribes at the different trading posts, must have taken up most 
 of his time and been a severe tax upon his strength. But he was found equal 
 to the task and rejoiced in the work. 
 
 There came also, once a year, to Port Simpson a party of Indians as boat- 
 men from Port Yukon, a trading post fully 1,000 miles northwest of Port 
 Simpson. These strangers soon attracted the attention of the Missionary, who 
 took them into his own home during their annual stay of ten or fifteen days. 
 Soon a friendly relationship was established with them, and ho obtained the 
 fullest information from them regarding their countrymen. Then a desire to 
 see them took possession of his soul, and in the spring of 1862 he resolved to 
 visit Port Yukon. A suitable canoe was obtained, which he named " The 
 Herald," two Christian Indians engaged, and as soon as the ice broke up on 
 the Mackenzie " The Herald " was launched, and the Missionary was on his 
 errand of love to these distant tribes. 
 
 Pollowing the ice down the Mackenzie to the point not far from its estuary 
 where it receives the waters of Peel River, he then ascended the latter river to 
 Port McPherson, a great rendezvous of the Indians, and the last house on the 
 Continent. He thus describes his visit to that far-off spot : 
 
16 
 
 ALASKA. 
 
 " Never to weary pilgrims was home sweeter than was the sight of the Port 
 to us. We arrived at 5 o'clock m the morning ; the sun was shining brightly, 
 and had been doing so all night, the only observable dilference between that 
 and the day being that during the night the heat and glare were not so great. 
 At 10 o'clock the Indians all came to Service, and were attentive and quiet. In 
 the evening I preached to them again, and thus ended my first Sunday within 
 the Arctic circle. Very sincerely do I thank God for the privilege given to 
 me in being the first ' messenger of the Churches' to visit this 'uttermost 
 part of the earth' and to plant the standard of the Cross, here. God grant 
 that it may be so planted that it shall never be taken down again until He shall 
 come whose right it is to reign." 
 
 The two following days were employed in instructing the Indiaas, who con- 
 tinued with him from morning to night. On the 18th, leaving his canoe and 
 the two Indians who had brought him from Port Simpson, he set out, accom- 
 panied by two guides, to loalk over the Eocky Mountains ; up and down they 
 went over several ridges rising from 700 to 2,800 feet, and at last, by a sudden 
 descent of 1,000 feet into the valley, he reached La Pierre's House, another of 
 the Pur Company's forts. Here Mr. Kirkby spent another Sunday. He ad- 
 dressed the Indians in the morning and afternoon, and had an English Service 
 in the evening with the family of the trader in charge of the place, and his 
 two Orkney men. With tears in his eyes this officer said, " I never thought to 
 see the day when a Minister of the Gospel would be at La Pierre's House." 
 Here our traveller remained till June 30th, instructing the Indians and making 
 translations for their future use. He then embarked in the Company's boat 
 on the Rat River, which makes its way through a rough country until it 
 reaches the Porcupine River, a tributary of the Yukon. Mr. Kirkby thus 
 describes his arrival at the Port : 
 
 "July 6th, 1862 — Early this morning we came to the portage, which is 
 about two miles from the confluence of the Porcupine with the Yukon. It is 
 a straight walk across to the Port. Mr. Jones, the gentleman in charge of the 
 boat, went that way, and I proi)osed to accompany him, but the Indians 
 begged me to remain in the boat as they wished to take me themselves to the 
 Port. They also enjoined secrecy on Mr. Jones, that no one should know of 
 my coming. In a short time we met the waters of the Yukon, a magnificent 
 river studded with islands. We had to ascend the current to the Port, which, 
 though only two miles distant, took us as many hours to reach, the boats being 
 heavily loaded. There were about 500 Indians present, all of whom were filled 
 with astonishment and delight to see me in the boat. After shaking hands 
 with them all, I went into the house for a season, thinking it best to allow the 
 Indians who had been up with the boat an opportunity of first telling to their 
 countrymen what they had heard and seen. It had been told me by the 
 traders that it would not be safe to preach the whole law to the Indians here 
 on account of their habits of infanticide, polygamy and shamanism. More- 
 over, they were said to be treacherous and blood-thirsty. It therefore became 
 me to act with prudence, and I knew that the men of the boats would report 
 favorably. 
 
ALASKA. 
 
 17 
 
 "After a few hours the Indians were assembled, and I went out to address 
 them, telling them fully who I was and the object of my visit, and asked them 
 whether they would place themselves under Christian instruction. All replied 
 in the aflBrmative, and at once seated themselves on the ground to hear what 
 I had to say. With the aid of the boatmen a hymn was sung, and all for the 
 first time knelt in prayer. It is not claimed that all knew the full import of 
 the act, but it was a goodly sight to see that whole band of Indians bending 
 their knees before C-od and trying to lisp the name of J esus. 
 
 " At the close of the Service the principal chief, a bold, energetic man, made 
 a vigorous speech, and others followed. The purport of each was the same. 
 They were glad I had come to visit them ; they would be guided by my words, 
 and would request their followers to do the same. Thus the glorious light of 
 the Gospel of Christ which first dawned on the land a hundred years ago, 
 when the Moravians established their first Mission on the shores of Labrador, ^ 
 had penetrated to the furthest limits of the British dominions on this Con- 
 tinent." 
 
 Fort Yukon is, however, no longer within the English boundary line. In 
 1869 the United States Government laid claim to the Port in virtue of the 
 treaty by which Eussia ceded all the forts in the territory to America. Port 
 Yukon in lat. 66° 33' north and long. 143° 44' 10" is seventy-five miles west of 
 the boundary line, and is therefore now included in the province of Alaska. 
 
 The distance of Port Yukon from Manitoba is about 3,500 miles. It is, 
 however, easier of access from the western side of the Eocky Montains, and it 
 would be comparatively easy to evangelize the tribes from that point, provided 
 an adequate staff of Missionaries, qualified for the work, could be sent forth. 
 
 Mr. Kirkby passed two summers at Port Yukon, and during that time had 
 the great joy of seeing much good accomplished. The Gospel had been faith- 
 fully preached to the people, and had its legitimate effects upon them. Sha- 
 manism was publicly renounced by the great high-priest of the art. Polygamy 
 ceased among all who were baptized into the Church, and three of the most 
 intelligent young men were appointed as Christian leaders among their coun- 
 trymen. Of course there was much yet to be accomplished. Habits of years 
 are not usually overcome in a day, and so at the close of his second summer 
 among them Mr. Kirkby could not resist the earnest pleadings of his young 
 converts to visit them again the following year. He longed to teach them yet 
 many necessary things, and things that accompany salvation ; but God had 
 provided for them in a way of which, at that time, neither they nor their teacher 
 knew anything. 
 
 A month after this, reaching his home, wet with rain and late at night, Mr. 
 Kirkby heard with deep joy that a brother Missionary had been sent by the 
 Bishop to aid him in the work. It had been arranged for Mr. McDonald to 
 occupy Port Liard, the next trading post, and about 200 miles from Port 
 Simpson, "that," to use the Bishop's words to Mr. Kirkby, "you may be 
 near each other and strengthen each other's hands ! " But much as he would 
 have enjoyed this, he was too mindful of his converts at the Yukon to keep Mr. 
 McDonald so near to him, and so proposed his going at once to Alaska 
 
18 
 
 ALASKA. 
 
 to take charge of the work there. Into this proposal Mr. McDonald entered 
 with all the zeal of a true Missionary, and instead of going to the easier post 
 at Port Liard, for which he had been sent, set off on his longer journey to the 
 Yukon. He encountered a severe snow-storm in crossing the mountains, and met 
 with much hardship from cold and hunger on the route, but reached his destina- 
 tion towards the end of October, 1863. The Indians gave him a hearty welcome, 
 and he at once commenced the study of their language, feeling that to be his 
 first duty. But this was no easy task, as the language is complicated in its 
 construction and difficult in its pronunciation. But Mr. McDonald was equal 
 to the task. He already knew the Oree and Salteaux tongues, and had had 
 some experience among these tribes. The language acquired, his work was 
 comparatively easy, and in addition to his duties at the Port he went amongst 
 the Indians in the surrounding country, preaching and teaching as he found 
 opportunity. In this way the tribes down the river as far as Fort St. Michael 
 on Norton Sound were visited, and the Gospel preached to them. A leading 
 chief who had shown much kindness to Mr. Kirkby was most active in helping 
 Mr. McDonald in his work. This chief died towards the close of 1866, " ex- 
 horting his people to become Christians indeed, that they might follow him to 
 that blessed place whither he, through the Saviour's grace, felt sure he was 
 going." 
 
 Mr. McDonald's health is now broken, and he is obliged to leave his work 
 for a season, and it is feared forever. For nearly twenty years he has been 
 faithful in his labors there, traversing the country from one end to the other^ 
 and carrying the Gospel to many tribes hitherto strangers to its joyful sound. 
 It is surely a hopeful sign that nearly all listened to his teaching with atten- 
 tion, and to many the Holy Spirit so blessed the word spoken to their souls, as 
 to lead them to forsake their heathen customs, and to seek admission into the 
 Christian Church. In one tribe there is scarcely an unbaptized person left. 
 
 In his active, self-denying labors Mr. McDonald had been cheered and sus- 
 tained by the Rev. W. 0. Bompas, who in 1865 joined the Rev. W. W. Kirkby 
 in the Mackenzie River Mission. After a few years of active labor there, he 
 went to assist Mr. McDonald in carrying on his itinerating work in the Yukon 
 district. For this he possessed unusual qualifications. He had deep piety, 
 unbounded self-denial, and a great aptitude in acquiring languages. The 
 work thus grew and prospered, and in 1874 Mr. Bompas returned to England, 
 where on May 3d he was consecrated to the Bishopric of Athabasca, and re- 
 turned that same year to his new field of labor. This took him from the Yukon, 
 except to make visitations, hold confirmations, etc. 
 
 Thus was Mr. McDonald again loft alone with his unequal task until 1882, 
 when his health gave way, and in September of that year he writes to his 
 friend of former days. Archdeacon Kirkby, thus : 
 
 " I have done very little active work during the past year. I endeavored to 
 keep up the Sunday Services, but lately have had to give up one of them on 
 account of the exhaustion and suffering that followed. But I am thankful 
 for being enabled to do something at the translations, and have now reached 
 Rev. ii., and hope to complete the New Testament by March. A careful revis- 
 
19 
 
 ion of the whole will then have to be made. Should my health improve I 
 may pass next winter at Naklukayit. This would give me an opportunity of 
 translating the Gospels into the dialect spoken by the Indians there." 
 
 Mr. McDonald has now left the district, and hopes to visit England to super- 
 intend the printing of the New Testament, Prayer Book and Hymnal in the 
 Tukudh language. Portions of these have been in use for years, and it is 
 hoped that Mr. McDonald will be spared to complete the translations. The 
 Eev. Mr. Sim was added to the corps of workers in the fall of 1883 and settled 
 at the Rampart House. Besides these Clergymen there are native Christian 
 leaders who assisted in teaching. One of these in the spring of 1883 went on a 
 Mission to the Nun-Kwitchin and Tsyck-Kwitchin, 350 miles up the Yukon 
 above the Port, where he found all the people anxious to learn, and left books 
 with them. Over eighty ofEered themselves for Baptism, and it is hoped they 
 will be received into the Church by Mr. Sim on his next visit. 
 
 There are over 1,600 members of the Church on the Yukon, besides those 
 at Port McPherson and La Pierre House. This is the result of Mr. McDon- 
 ald's work at these stations. Mr. Sim is now in charge of this Mission with 
 his band of native leaders, and visited by the Bishop of Athabasca about every 
 other year. 
 
 Here, then, in as small a compass as possible is the field, its past history 
 and its present condition ; a few Greek Priests, whose congregations are de- 
 creasing by removals and will eventually die out ; eight or ten Presbyterians, 
 men and women, who confine their labors to Sitka and Port Wrangel, and have 
 enough to do there ; and one Clergyman of the Church of England on a river 
 2,500 miles long, whose banks from end to end are his parish ; 11,000 mem- 
 bers of the Greek Church, 700 or 800 Presbyterians and between 2,000 and 
 3,000 Church of England folk familiar with her Services and loving her ritual ; 
 and at the very least calculation 5,500 natives that might be reached and cared 
 for, and should be cared for, by our Church. No Church has the claim upon 
 the Indians there that the Church of England has, but she ought not to be asked 
 to do work that belongs to us. If a Bishop and four Clergymen, with at least 
 $12,000 per anmira, could be secured for Alaska, and these men could get into 
 the field and take possession before whiskey settles there and the people are 
 demoralized by it, there might be a work done among these Indians equal to 
 that in the Piji Islands, and in as short a time. Here is a chance to show 
 the people of America that the Church does know how to deal with the In- 
 dian question. There will be a clear field and no favor for several years to 
 come. A fund of $15,000, appropriated by Congress in 1878 for educational 
 purposes, but never called for, might be claimed by any party proving to Con- 
 gress by their works that they meant to educate the people. A government of 
 some sort, military perhaps, will soon be established. Prospectors after every- 
 thing valuable will overrun the country as soon as it is safe and profitable to 
 do so. The denominations are gradually waking up to the fact that here is a 
 Missionary prize package for the first one that shall open it. The Church of 
 England is ready and anxious to make over her work entire to us. Let the 
 House of Bishops, the General Convention and the whole Church look into 
 
20 
 
 ALASKA. 
 
 this matter, and for once determine to be first in the field with proper 
 equipment. There will be no trouble about the men or the money, and even 
 though the new Bishop should have " no Cathedral, no staff of Clergy and no 
 endowment," he could have a good support, a steam yacht and a dozen dog 
 teams, and with these, if he were the right man in body as well as in spirit, he 
 could convert that world. 
 
 Acknowledgments are due to Rev. Dr. Chas. R. Hale, and also to works of Dall and 
 the Rev. Sheldon Jackson, D.D., in furnishing material and suggestions for these articles; 
 also to Rev. Sheldon Jackson, d.d., for map accompanying this sketch.